Demand that the slaughter of dolphins in Taiji, Japan stops now.

For the past week, Ric O’Barry and a team of activists from Save Japan Dolphins and Earth Island Institute have been in Taiji, Japan, the site of the largest killing of dolphins in the world. Their brave vigil has brought media coverage from around the world and it shone a light on the dangers to dolphins and people if we let this slaughter continue. As awareness and media coverage grew in Japan, the cove remained tranquil and no dolphins were killed.

But around 5:30 am yesterday, 13 fishing boats left Taiji’s harbor and started driving dolphins into a cove. They captured 50-100 dolphins, possibly for export to aquariums.

“Sadly, this isn’t entirely unexpected,” said Ric earlier today from Japan. “This campaign is far from over, and there’s still a lot of work to do in Japan. The good news is we’ve made progress and did garner unprecedented coverage while in Taiji. And at least one media in outlet is reporting that the captured dolphins that are not sold will be returned to the sea. Let’s hope that’s the case. If not, we will find out and report it.”

Ric, Lincoln and the Save Japan Dolphins team are preparing to go back to Japan in the days ahead. They’re intensifying the pressure. TakePart will continue to post updates as we receive them and in the meantime, here are 5 things you can do to help.

Source Takepart

ALV announces 30 day Vegan Easy Challenge.

Here’s your chance to win $1,000!

This Spring, Animal Lib Victoria is launching Australia’s first 30 Day Vegan Easy Challenge! What a great way to discover just how easy it is to go vegan. Their challenge will set you on track to eating healthier, saving animals, saving money, saving water and saving the planet all at the same time!

ALV chefs will provide you with a fantastic range of recipes that are not only healthy and easy to prepare but mouth watering delicious. Every participant will save the lives of numerous animals during the 30 days. So there are lots of winners! You’ll get a full 30 day menu which includes varieties from Mushroom Risotto and Tofu Turkey through to Vegan Trifle and Lemon Cheesecake. ALV’s VeganEasy Challenge website will also let you know great places to shop, how to spot what’s vegan and links to good nutrition.

By joining up for ALV’s 30 Day Vegan Easy Challenge you will be in the running to WIN $1000 plus other fabulous prizes! Don’t miss out on this great chance to make a difference. All participants receive a free info pack, recipes and a Vegan – You Can’t Get Greener keyring.

REGISTER NOW!

Mercy Corps: Healthy Food Carts For Kids

“Food carts seem to line nearly every street in Jakarta. Indonesia’s capital is home to 13 million people, many of whom rely on these ready-to-eat foods sold in neighborhood streets and alleys. The low cost and convenience make them an attractive option for families who are often too busy to prepare food or lack facilities, fuel or transportation to purchase and prepare raw foods…many [children] get a food allowance from their parents, which they usually spend on the vending carts lining the school property, hoping to get a cut.

The options are pretty unhealthy….

…Mercy Corps is working with five entrepreneurs to build food carts that serve nutritious snacks using recipes designed by our health team. The carts are being designed…according to criteria that should make them attractive to small children. For instance, the carts will be colorful, clean and showcase their offerings at a child’s eye level.”

Mercy Corps exists to alleviate suffering, poverty and oppression by helping people build secure, productive and just communities.

Gliider: An Online Travel Planner

“gliider is a digital file that lets you hold on to all of the interesting stuff you come across when you’re researching and planning a trip. Find a cool hotel you don’t want to forget about? See a great restaurant you want to try? No matter what website you’re on, just highlight whatever you want with your mouse and drag it into your gliider. Photos, text, whatever!

gliider will then bring you deals related to what you’re interested in. No spam, no overload. Only the good stuff and just the right amount of it.”

Chris Badenoch, from Masterchef Australia and BeerMasons present Party for Strays

If you love animals and you love to party you have the power to save their lives.

Our resident foodie, frontman and MasterChef contestant, Chris and the chefs from The Court House Hotel, North Melbourne, have whipped up a night of boutique beer and mouth watering bites for your partying pleasure.

Join in this Party for Strays and help the Lort Smith Animal Hospital give stray, abused and abandoned pets a second chance at life and help reduce pet euthanasia (currently 200,000 animals a year in Australia.)

Door prizes, competitions, DJs, sensational beer, fine food and excellent company.

It’s time to party with a purpose!

Thursday 10th September, 2009
@ 7pm
The Court House Hotel
Cnr Errol and Queensbury Streets
North Melbourne, VIC
BeerMasons Party Team
info@beermasons.com

Register for this event

Moby On Animal Production’s Impact On Global Warming

Moby checked in with fans on his blog at MySpace on Thursday (August 20), talking about his participation in the concert for the European Union and MTV and the neglect many in the climate change movement have in mentioning animal production’s impact on greenhouse gases. Moby writes:

“It’s a concert to draw attention to and benefit the European Union’s climate change initiative. Which I’m happy to talk about as long as no one minds me mentioning that 24% of climate change is the result of animal production (according to a United Nations report a few years ago).

I asked Al Gore about why he didn’t mention this in an ‘inconvenient truth’ (as animal production is responsible for more greenhouse gases than every car, bus, truck, bus, plane, boat on the planet COMBINED). He answered honestly, basically saying that getting people to drive a hybrid car isn’t that difficult. Getting people to give up animal products is almost impossible. I appreciated his honesty. So I guess I’ll be talking about climate change tomorrow, and I guess I’ll have to mention the most inconvenient of inconvenient truths, that you can’t talk seriously about climate change and global warming without looking at the role of animal production (animal production being responsible for 24% of greenhouse gas emissions and also the #1 cause of deforestation in the rainforest)”

More from Moby’s Journal

Also worth checking out, is Food.inc.  You’ll never look at dinner the same way!

Moby on Twitter @thelittleidiot.

The Cove Movie and the Dolphin Research Institute

IN LESS than two weeks, an annual event that environmental activist Ric O’Barry calls a genocide will begin. By the time it ends in March, as many as 23,000 dolphins will have been ”harvested” in Japan.

The lucky few will be shipped off to aquariums around the world, to spend the rest of their lives performing. The unlucky ones will be brutally slaughtered, their carcasses butchered for sale in Japan – often deliberately mislabelled as whale meat – or merely dragged out to sea and left to rot.

This grim scenario is laid bare in a documentary, The Cove, which follows the efforts of Mr O’Barry and his colleagues to reveal what goes on at the Japanese fishing port of Taiji.

More from Karl Quinn’s article at The Age

Other links:

• Petition – www.takepart.com/thecove

• www.thecovemovie.com

• If you’re on Facebook, check out The Cove group – lots of daily updates and comments from people around the world about the movie and reactions

Dolphin Research Institute -  1300 130 949

A Dinner to Die For interactive evening of murder mystery and mayhem

Lord Quinten Daventry invites you for an interactive evening of murder mystery and mayhem all served up with a delicious 3 course dinner.

We’re not talking molecular gastronomy here, but rather a wickedly funny Murder Mystery Dinner. Bare Elements Productions, based in Melbourne, present their new dinner dates.

Become part of the show whilst watching the show – set in 1928 you are invited to be a guest of Lord Quinten Daventry at his birthday bash. The rumour going around social circles is that he will announce his engagement to Miss Fanny Farquar.

It’s Agatha Christie in spirit – all cut glass accents, strings of pearls, flapper dresses, army outfits, dinner jackets and monocles – with lashings of sexual innuendo and double entendres.

When: 29 Aug, 7 Nov, 5 Dec, 12 Dec and 19  Dec, 2009.
Website:http://www.adinnertodiefor.com

“I would pay thoosands and thoosands of poonds to see this show”

“Murder! Mayhem! Merriment! and Mirth! A marvellous cast and excellent entertainment. We had a ball, fun & laughter all night long! Definitely recommended – get right into the characters and transport yourself to another era.”

“Just brilliant. I’ve never had a more entertaining dinner!”

“Absolutely brilliant, the acting was at a high level, exceeded my expectations”

“The whole experience was like being in an enjoyable time warp.Encore…”

Peter Singer Why Go Vegetarian

excerpt: “the idea that ‘humans come first’ is more often used as an excuse for not doing anything about either human or nonhuman animals than as a genuine choice between incompatible alternatives . . . Granted, everyone has a limited amount of time and energy, and time taken in active work for one cause reduces the time available for another cause; but there is nothing to stop those who devote their time and energy to human problems from joining the boycott of the products of agribusiness cruelty. It takes no more time to be a vegetarian than to eat animal flesh. In fact . . . those who claim to care about the well-being of human beings and the preservation of our environment should become vegetarians for that reason alone. They would thereby increase the amount of grain available to feed people elsewhere, reduce pollution, save water and energy, and cease contributing to the clearing of forests; moreover, since a vegetarian diet is cheaper than one based on meat dishes, they would have more money available to devote to famine relief, population control, or whatever social or political cause they thought most urgent. I would not question the sincerity of vegetarians who take little interest in Animal Liberation because they give priority to other causes; but when nonvegetarians say that ‘human problems come first’ I cannot help wondering what exactly it is that they are doing for human beings that compels them to continue to support the wasteful, ruthless exploitation of farm animals.”

More on Peter Singer

The Life You Can Save

Christina Aguilera Global Spokesperson for World Hunger Relief

Five-time Grammy Award winner Christina Aguilera is giving hunger a powerful voice by becoming the global spokesperson for World Hunger Relief.

Aguilera will help raise awareness of the hunger issue this fall by appearing in a new public service announcement, advertising and posters made possible by KFC, Pizza Hut and Taco Bell. She will also get the message out by appearing on the World Hunger Relief web site, FromHungertoHope.com, and in other online hunger relief efforts.

Visit the World Hunger Relief Cause page, http://apps.facebook.com/causes/113795, for more information on how you can join in the fight to end hunger and help save lives.

Thanks for your support.
The World Hunger Relief 2009 Team